CRAFT, LIVELIHOOD, FINANCIAL LIFE
(Seekers’ Lesson 5)
Erle Frayne D. Argonza
Good day, Brothers and Sisters!
For this moment’s reflection, I
would focus on the rationale behind living a prosperous socio-economic or
financial life. Those with Piscean mindsets still think in terms of ‘Money
versus Spirit’ dichotomy which, to my mind, is a flawed mental construct. This
article will deconstruct that old fogey line, and advance the following thesis:
we all deserve to live prosperous lives and reproduce in our micro-lives the
abundance of the cosmos.
I will simplify my contentions
by referring to the works of three (3) divine beings: Jesus, Buddha, and ‘Earth
Store’ Bodhisattva. From Jesus via his apostles we will employ the aphorism
“from each according to his abilities, to each according to his needs” (see Acts
of the Apostles). From Buddha we will borrow the adage “Right Livelihood!”
culled from his 8-Fold Path (see Dhamapadda). From the Bodhisattva we
will cull the axiological link between prosperity and good karma (see Sutras
of the Earth Store Bodhisattva).
Livelihood—economic life and
the institutions that arise in its fulfillment—is intended as a legitimate
response to a core attribute of the human soul: craftsmanship. This trait is
the 3rd Ray, the ray of art. It is wise and divine to enable all
humans to practice their respective crafts. Conversely, it is foolish and evil
to obstruct and bar humans from developing their crafts. Souls can only advance
in the Path by each one’s filling up of shis (his/her) ‘glass of crafts’. This
is the core rationale of the imperative “Right Livelihood!”
Everyone possesses abilities, a
fact that Jesus and his Apostles (who were Ascended Masters) declared in the
Teaching. “From each according to shis abilities” (I revised the adage a bit to
include Her in the beneficiary list), says the aphorism. This line is very
deep, as it is the start of economic theory. The line implies that all of us,
possessing respective abilities (crafts), encounter each other with our
diversity of crafts that complement each other. If we meet in a common niche,
with our crafts and the products of our respective craftsmanship, than we have
a ‘market’ going. Needless to say, without abilities, there will be no market
at all. This Jesusian-Apostolic line is the ‘supply side’ of the economy.
Buddha’s imperative adage of
“Right Livelihood” is the externalized response in fulfillment of practicing
certain crafts. The word “right” implies an opposite “wrong”. It would be
virtuous an act if each member of society will be provided ample opportunity to
practice shis crafts, hence the term “right” in the imperative. Conversely, it
would be a commission of injustice if people are compelled to practice crafts
that do not cohere with what they were trained for or what they’ve mastered.
And, it would be awefully wrong if individuals, due to their lack of
self-motivation and drive in life, do not train in certain crafts, practice
them, and earn their keep, thus rendering these persons parasites for life.
No spiritual master ever
mandated that Lightworkers shouldn’t practice crafts or livelihoods, or should
live extremely ascetic lives. On the contrary, they forewarned about the
dangers of asceticism. Except for those persons who have declared their main
tasks as praying & meditation, and who opt to live a monastic life,
everyone else who is “kasinlakas ng kalabaw” (as strong as the carabao) must
practice crafts and livelihoods. Anyone who is as “strong as the carabao” but
who refuses to labor out of laziness and low self-motivation, whether rich or
poor, will face the karmic consequences of shis misbehavior.
Let us now reflect the other
side of the Jesusian-Apostolic adage, “to each according to shis needs.” This
is the demand side of the economy. It is that side where various responses to
the needs of people can be fulfilled through industries instituted by market
players. Hereof we will take the line on the micro-level view: the level of the
individual producer. If a producer practices crafts, then shis needs can be fulfilled.
Since Buddha declared the imperative “Right livelihood” as sacrosanct to the
Teaching, then we can integrate this into the Jesusian-Apostolic thesis to
elicit the following model:
Abilities (Crafts) à Livelihood à Needs
From the foregoing model, we
can see that a person possesses abilities that are translatable to crafts or
professions. A person should go ahead and hone shis talents up to the greatest
extent. In the emerging Post-Industrial or Information Society, it is most
fitting to study up through the PhD level and post-doctoral programs, aside
from attending special seminars, as strategies for enabling
capability-building. In today’s development argot, it is but fitting to build
up one’s own ‘human capital’, and per declaration in international treaties and
agreements, the ‘right to livelihood’ must be observed by all nations. If one
were to practice the vocational-technical crafts, then the person should go
ahead and hone the crafts up to the highest levels of mastery. Because
craftsmanship practice is a constitutive part of soul evolution, to re-echo the
theme.
As far as this note is
concerned, it is erroneous to associate the Path back to God as a mere chanting
of the name of God in multiple bhakti or church expressions. As expressed in
other articles of mine, to reduce spirituality to faith/devotion is
reductionist hogwash. Each one of us was provided by God with ‘glass of crafts’
as well, and given not merely our ‘glass of faith’, so we should strive to fill
up our respective ‘glass of crafts’ along our evolutionary path. Failing to do
so, we will face the karmic consequences (see the Bodhisattva’s elucidations)
of such a misbehavior.
In my own analysis, failure to
hone crafts—as much as possible a plethora of crafts across all of the 7 Rays—across
our re-incarnated embodiments will be tantamount to rendering ourselves as
‘laggards’. This theory explains, to a great extent, why we have so many
laggards today, whom psychologists classified as the idiots, imbeciles,
borderlines, below average-intelligence persons, and retardates. We also have
so many phlegmatics who, in my analysis, were an improvement over the laggards,
were once laggards in past lives and are no longer in that state today, but
whose learning paces are so slow compared to the smarter members of society.
On the other hand, following
from the law of karma’s explications, many of the poor folks today, including
those millions of street people or waifs, were once very wealthy and powerful
persons, but who squandered the opportunities available before them, lived
vicious lives in some past aegis. As we have declared in the 2nd Ray
lessons, we must build virtues along the way to be able to ascend the Heights.
Live wealthy lives now, but live your life viciously, and guaranteed in the
next lives you will end up eking out to survive in the streets or as lowly paid
slaves of employers.
But if one lives a prosperous
life today, and sustains virtues-development till one becomes transformed like
unto the finest gold internally, and the same soul follows the virtues and
expectations along the other Rays of life, then, as the Bodhisattva assured,
s/he will receive protection from above in this life and on to the next. More
significantly, this Virtuous One will live prosperity again in the next
embodiment, assuming that this person will still need to come back in the
physical plane to complete the karmic cycles. Accordingly, those kings who live
virtuous lives, will be returned as kings in later lives. A simplified
causality chain is shown below:
AbilitiesàLivelihoodàProsperity
w/ virtuesàProsperity
in future livesàEnd of
karmic cycles (Nirvana)
Come to think of it, no one is
doomed forever to be poor. Even if one bears with them the bad karma of past
lives and begin with sloppy financial lives today, through relentless practice
of the Teachings, with yoga meditation at the core, one can deprogram the past
karma, re-program the present embodiment into a new timeline, and end up life
prosperously. Nothing is impossible in the cosmos.
As to the honing of talents,
the teachings of many gurus of success today are encyclopedic. Seekers should
go ahead and learn from these gurus. One can encounter them as readings in the
university, both in the bachelor’s and graduate degrees. One also encounters
them in the vocational-technical schools, where certain instructors have
incorporated them in their human capital trainings. The gurus have written
their pieces in formulaic designs in order to make the lessons simpler and
effect their diffusion down to the most motivated phlegmatics, maybe even to
the laggards.
Among the latest crop of gurus
of success are Robert Kiyosaki and John Maxwell. I’ve reviewed Kiyosaki’s
books, beginning with the Rich Dad, Poor Dad, and found his teachings
very sound and practicable in today’s context. Maxwell’s CD-packaged lessons
are amusingly substantive, and are excellent tools for success. On the
macro-economic side, there’s Robert Reich with his Work of Nations, John
Naisbitt with Megatrends and Megatrends Asia meant for the aspirants
who desire to anticipate what opportunities are brewing in the planet.
As I have declared in my
workshop lectures on entrepeneurship to marginal families, don’t ever wait for
“guavas to drop from the sky,” but rather do work out to “produce the guavas
yourself by cultivating them.” In other words, the pro-active strategy is to
create the opportunities from within your niche, rather than simply wait for
those opportunities to come to you on silver platters.
Should opportunities shut
themselves out, and opportunity-building gets shut off so unexpectedly at a
given juncture, than assess the causes right away. Accept the responsibility
and don’t blame others. If there are imbalances in your home, than apply
geomancy principles and practices such as feng shui. If you maybe relentlessly
attacked by invisible forces, then do an energy closure by consulting shamans
who can do the closure operations. Protect yourself with the necessary energy
and balancing aids, mantrams, geomancy tools, and so on. And continue to build
virtues within you.
As I was reviewing the works of
contemporary gurus of success, I noticed right away their very emphatic
contention on the significance of building and exercising virtues as part of
success-building. Greed and arrogance are among the most sordid vices or evils,
and many who have fallen in the prosperity grid were observed to have been
greedy and arrogant all along. Virtues related to livelihood, the virtue of
serving others, the virtue of continuous studies and re-invention of oneself,
the virtue of high determination, the exhibition of good attitudes at all times
are among the core traits underscored by the same gurus. I was bent on agreeing
with them to the fullest, even before I finished reviewing their works. There
can never be any argument against building virtues.
Dear Seekers, move on and chart
a life of prosperity. Let me end this note with the line: Perfect thy crafts
and practice them with virtues, and the heavens shall open themselves up to
you.
[Writ 07 October 2007, Quezon City
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